But the problem is our oceans are in peril. Firstly, climate change is wreaking havoc on the oceans as more heat is absorbed, resulting in an increase in sea surface temperatures and rising sea levels. Secondly, ocean acidification caused by the rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is devastating marine ecosystems. And if that wasn’t bad enough, our appetite for seafood and the trash we produce on land is harming marine species and putting our own health at risk.

Overfishing is Draining Our Oceans

Nearly 80 percent of the world’s fish stocks have been fully exploited or are in decline and 90 percent of the ocean’s large predatory fish, like sharks and swordfish, have been wiped out because of our demand for seafood. To make matters worse, fish consumption is growing in countries with developed or rapidly developing economies, creating a demand that cannot be met by fish stocks in their own waters (for example, the EU, the USA, China, and Japan). These markets are increasingly supplied by fish caught from the waters of developing countries, where small-scale fisheries are struggling to survive. If fishing continues at our current rate, it is estimated that the planet’s fisheries are likely to collapse entirely by the year 2050. This hardly sounds like the kind of plan that’s going to feed nine billion people!

We Need a Better Alternative

We can’t expect to feed ourselves by draining our oceans of fish while simultaneously dumping trash into the very waters from which we source our food. Something has to give. The reality is that in the developed world, we don’t need to eat seafood. “Except for those living in coastal communities — or even inland if we’re talking freshwater species — for most people, eating fish is a choice, not a necessity,” says Sylvie Earle, renowned Oceanographer. And if Sylvie Earle thinks you should not be eating fish, you should sit up and pay attention.

In fact, there are only a few countries that rely on fish as their primary source of protein, and it is developed countries like the U.S. that account for the majority of fish imports. But given that people in the developed and developing world want to eat seafood, it’s time we start reimagining these foods from the ground up. For example, food technology startup New Wave Foods is working on a prototype for lab-grown shrimp using plant proteins derived from algae. It’s only a matter of time before others start to experiment with developing lab-grown seafood using stem cells.

Think eating seafood made in a lab from algae or stem-cells is weird? Think again. In fact, what’s downright bizarre is that we’re turning our oceans into toilet bowls, yet insist they are a sustainable and healthy source of food. So if you really want to keep eating those shrimp cocktails in a safe and sustainable way, a lab-grown alternative may soon be your only choice.

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31 comments on “We’ve Turned Our Oceans Into Toilet Bowls, Now It’s Time to Reimagine Seafood”

i have to be honest though, i think its alright to eat anything as long as we know where the line is and not go over that line just to satisfy our greed... if we keep saying these kind of things, what's next? stop eating plants because we thought it was the best choice but our greed gets the best of us at the end of the day?

lol morons are the people who dont care not the ones who do. nice try. have a good life

Robert Yeip

04 Mar 2016

Lmao. Thinking humans are going to stop eating fish IS moronic. Humans have been eating fish since there have been humans.

Roza Medhat

04 Mar 2016

Its ignorant people like you that are causing this earth to turn to shit. Without fish and other sea creatures our oceans won't be clean, which means no clean oxygen!

Robert Yeip

04 Mar 2016

Well no shit moron. But the answer is not...stop eating fish and seafood. There are 7 billion people on this planet that need to eat. The answer is to improve ways to harvest the seafood in a sustainable way. This is why I call you people morons,because you lack even a modicum of common sense.

Robert Yeip

04 Mar 2016

So bring on the seafood,pair it with a nice steak and we have a healthy and satisfying meal.

Priscilla Pittington

06 Mar 2016

Robert Yeip yeah we USED to do a lot of things. until we learned a better way -.-

Sherry Hernandez

06 Mar 2016

Robert, I hope all the Mercury antibiotics and hormones are delicious. You keep eating that crap and you'll be making those cancer specialists happy and wealthy.

Sherry Hernandez

06 Mar 2016

Robert calls everyone a moron yet has not given one viable solution. He must be one of those narcissistic trolls.

Robert Yeip

06 Mar 2016

The meme is ..Stop harvesting seafood as the solution to the problem. As I've said, that idea is moronic in the face of the fact that seafood is a large portion of this planet's food source for 7BILLION people. As I also said, a more logical solution is to develop better ways to sustainably harvest seafood, unless you think it's ok to contribute to increased hunger around the world and people dying, sure, let's stop harvesting seafood..great idea. So yes, if you agree with this, you're at the very least self deluded, at worst...a Moron. So yeah, the solution is smarter use of the resource, not the cesation of the use.

Robert Yeip

06 Mar 2016

Priscilla Pittington and your better way is to just stop harvesting a major food source? How do you propose to replace the lost food that will be needed to feed the people that depended on harvesting food from the ocean? You can't just say, stop , without having a plan to replace the food energy lost to the world's population. If you increase farming to compensate, you then run into problems with agricultural runoff and land use concerns. Actions have condequences both good and bad.

Elena Da Viandante

1 Years Ago

The algae thing isn't so bad.
Gardein un-fish sticks have algal oil in them. They also have canola oil and one or two other things that keep them on my list of occasional purchase.
The texture could be better, but the taste is good and they actually smell something like fish when they are being fried.